These are a few Guides to get Rocksmith 2014 running on Linux. In case you haven't tried gaming on Linux yet, other than not working, it won't get harder than this by far for other games.
This is the bare minimum to get it to work. I don't know if certain changes recommended by other people have a performance impact.
Last Distro + version tested on is listed under the title of the guide.
I have only tested the Steam version.
I take no responsibility and will not guarantee for this working.
Don't install Rocksmith onto an NTFS drive and also don't copy from it. The compatibility with NTFS is not good enough for this to work and you likely create more headaches for yourself than you solve.
If you use Proton-GE, install scripts sometimes don't run. In that case, use Valve's Proton for the first start, then switch to Proton-GE.
We will need wine, which is installed in the first step.
If you are on CachyOS just install the gaming packages in CachyOS Hello.
Some paths that we need differ from system to system. I use environment variables in this guide so you don't have to edit every second command you run. Here's what we need:
$HOME: Already set, don't worry about it. (redirects to/home/<username>)$STEAMLIBRARY: The Steam Library where Rocksmith is installed in. This is important if you installed the game on a different drive. You can check where it's installed by opening Steam, then going toSteam ➞ Settings ➞ Storage. Search for the disk where Rocksmith is installed on. The path you need will be Above the disk usage indicator, picture for visual explanation. Most of the time this will be in$HOME/.steam/steam/$PROTON: A specific location inside your Proton installation.- Valve Release: (Example with Proton 7)
/path/to/steamapps/common/Proton\ 7.0/dist - Valve Beta/Experimental: (Example with Experimental)
/path/to/steamapps/common/Proton\ -\ Experimental/files - Custom Proton: (Example with GE-Proton 9.11)
$HOME/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d/GE-Proton9-11/files - Lutris Runners: (Example with lutris-7.2-2) No specific location, just
$HOME/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine/lutris-7.2-2-x86_64
- Valve Release: (Example with Proton 7)
Example for default paths and Proton 7:
# With quotes, without backslashes, to ensure compatibility with the commands listed in the guides.
STEAMLIBRARY="$HOME/.steam/steam/"
PROTON="$HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Proton 7.0/dist/"
How to set environment variables
You can check the environment variables by running
echo $NAME.I recommend putting double quotes around the paths, just to be sure.
Totally fine for our usecase. Insert your paths and run these lines like commands. Keep in mind that these are only temporary. It only applies to the terminal instance you set it in. If you were to open a new terminal window, you'd have to enter them again to be able to use them.
STEAMLIBRARY="<path without backslashes>" PROTON="<path without backslashes>"Add these lines to
~/.profile. You will need to log out and back in after adding them.export STEAMLIBRARY="<path without backslashes>" export PROTON="<path without backslashes>"
There are two ways to do this. The one most people on ProtonDB use is quicker, but results in high delay and distorted sound. It routes the sound through ALSA. This can be found in "Other Guides".
Then there's the way of routing the audio through JACK 🡲 wineASIO 🡲 RS_ASIO 🡲 Rocksmith 2014, which has less delay and sounds better, but also takes longer to set up. These can be found in the table below.
Recent Proton versions:
- If you don't use pipewire, choose the native JACK guide.
- If you use pipewire, you can choose either one.
Need help deciding? You can read this.
These guides currently have a problem with wine versions 10.2 or higher. For details see https://github.com/theNizo/linux_rocksmith/issues/76. As a workaround, downgrade wine before starting the guide and upgrade again after you're done. Last working version is 10.1
| pipewire-jack | native JACK | |
|---|---|---|
| Arch | Guide | Guide |
| Debian | Guide | Guide |
| Fedora | Guide | Guide |
| SteamOS | Guide | Guide |
| NixOS | Guide | missing |
Other Guides:
- OBS guide for these setups
- Differences: Proton versions 6.5 and below
- ALSA - Quick and dirty
- Different sound processing with Tonelib-GFX
- With Mods and interface
Other information:
These are outated. I'll leave the content here just in case.
Details
Because someone asked, I have written scripts that do everything for you.
For native Steam:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/theNizo/linux_rocksmith/main/scripts/native-steam.sh && ./native-steam.sh && rm native-steam.shFor other Rocksmith installations:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/theNizo/linux_rocksmith/main/scripts/other.sh && ./other.sh && rm other.sh
- preflex for showing me how to do it on Arch-based distros.
- u/JacKeTUs for publishing a Debian-based Guide on r/linux_gaming
- the_Nizo, for using that information and updating it regularly in the past. My original Guide was posted here.
- BWagener for writing the Steam Deck Guide.
- Siarkowy for replacing the "JustInCaseWeNeedIt" workaround and the shortcut in Steam.
- TimP4w for the NixOS guide.
A big thank you to the people working on wineASIO and RS_ASIO
Also thanks to all the people who helped me figure out solutions.
Issues help me see what people misunderstand and I often learn a little bit more by approaching the setup in different ways, so thank you too.